2024.1.23: Orrery Adventures: Mitanu

Adventures in Orrery Making: Mitanu
A trip the Mercury for an orrery stone turns into a Wyrm siege at a corrupted Hermetic college.
IC Date	January
IC Time	Afternoon
Players	Pancake Branton Irsa Rhapsody Boots Abril
Location	Mercury, and an asteroid orbiting Mercury
Prp/Tp	Adventures in Orrery Making: Mitanu
Spheres	Gaian Garou

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Cast: Abril: Mr. Pink, Irsa: Mr. Blue, Rhapsody: Mr. Green, Boots: Mr. Purple, Branton: Mr. Red, ST/Iris: Mr. Black

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People are gathering in Branton's garden near the coast, preparing to go on an adventure with Iris....

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xxxxx"Mercury." Iris answers, sounding totally serious when she answers Cindy's question about where they're going. Mercy, Cindy and Abril are in the garden by the dingy landing zone, making sure everyone's got their shit together and waiting on stragglers and stuff like that. Because obviously she put out some kinda 'omg come adventure with me!' call or what have you. "Hey!" she calls to Irsa, "We're just about to head up, got all the whatevers you need for a trip?"

xxxxxThe jingle jangle gets louder as Crow jingles his approval of visiting the trickster god's planet. Abril also gives a nod, accepting without much question that is the destination. The questions she does have are of the much more practical variety. "Help with spirit quest on Mercury? Or Just Cause Mercury?"

xxxxxIrsa's Familiar immediately takes the promise of food and Adventure as an invitation to scamper out of the Bone Gnawer's fetish pack. "Mercury! It's for meee! We'll all fly there and shout out 'Wheee'!" the Rat pipes happily, drumming her paw-hands on Irsa's head. The theurge ducks her head and grumbles something under her breath about mad rats and swiss cheese. "I got road drinks and snacks," Irsa confirms. "Might even get some, if ya beat th' Menace to 'em. And maybe some fetishes. And talens. And Gifts. That should do it."

xxxxxCindy laughs at the answer. Because it's silly! Clearly a joke! She checks the straps of the pack while she listens. "Fly? We're taking a plane?"

xxxxx"Mmmmm.... Well, tha main quest objective is I need to get a piece of the land donated to me by the celestine of the realm so I can plug it into my orrery." Iris answers Abril, "Secondary objectives include seeing cool shit, meeting a god, and I'm *hoping* to rob Mercury's next door neighbor, assuming nothing goes completely awry. So! Anyone that needs a hand crossing the gauntlet, come give me a hug!" She gives Cindy an adoring smile and says, "Plane, oh goodness no. C'mere, gimme a hug, trust me it's totally worth it."

xxxxxBranton comes out to the staging area with a backpack on and a duffle bag in hand. Grinning at Cindy for a moment he comments to Irsa and Abril "It is so much funnier when it is someone else's first time on one of these yeah?"

xxxxxIrsa rummages around in her cooler and hands a Sunny D to Abril. Gotta stay hydrated, man. "We're stealin' shit from Venus, too?" she asks Mercy, cus that's totally what Mentors are for. She hands another drink to Branton and picks up her cooler.

xxxxxCindy laughs more and the list of clearly jocular objectives. The thought of crossing the gauntless ends that mood though. It's something that clearly makes her nervous. But who doesn't like hugs? Here goes!

xxxxx"No plane, No TSA! No Deportation!" Abril says even as she's taking the neon orange 'juice' drink from Irsa and looking at it closely. Not tasting, just looking for now. And then nod as Mercy explains objectives. "Negotiate, orrey. Cool Shit. And rob... Venus, not Helios?" Because yeah, thought of trying to rob the Sun himself may have the shadow lord a little dubious.

xxxxxMercy smooches her hubby when he gets up to them, and then hugs Cindy! Due to her absurd Elder Theurge bullshit, the transition to the umbra is instantanious and there's no magic tingle or anything like that. Just BOOP! Umbra. The garden looks basically the same, but there's a buncha little plant gafflings around, and the home and man-made stuff is all constructed out of steel webbing. The major scenery difference is the row boat that's sitting in the grass close by. While people are getting themselves across the gauntlet, she boops back and forth in rapid succession to get the pile of luggage across. Which she absolutely dedicated in advance because she's totes smart. "Everyone load up!" she says, gesturing to get into the row boat. "Oh no, Wyrmish stronghold. WAY easier than robbing a god."

xxxxx"Hell yeah, down with th' Man!" Irsa agrees with Abril, thrusting a scarred fist in the air. She hops into the rowboat and takes a seat, while her Rat runs up to the bow. "Adventure Ho! Row, me hearties, rooow!" the Spirit shouts.

xxxxxAbril is slower getting into the umbra than an elder thuerge, but she does make it across. "Wyrm stronghold??? Hope more than rob." She doesn't have her claws out yet, but does seem like she's itching that way.

xxxxxCindy jumps a little as the scene so suddenly but subtely shifts. And eventually even remembers to let go. "Wow. So this is the umbra?" she says as if to herself. A whispered tone of wonder while looking at the things that have changed. But that shouting draws her attention to the boat. She moves to it and looks it over for a bit before very gingerly stepping in.

xxxxxOnce everything and everyone is in the boat, Mercy gets in and snags a spot on one of the little benches in there. She gives her little pre-flight speech first, "Newbies: Please keep arms, legs, wings and tails inside the boat at all times, and remain seated until we've come to a complete stop. Also don't barf in my dingy, that's a dick move. If you're gonna be sick, do it over the side! Oldies: Make sure the newbies don't fall over or anything." She gives people a second to get fully settled, then touches the side of the row boat with her eyes closed, thinking about going up.
xxxxxThe row boat begins to rise up off the ground, heading straight upwards like an elevator, not flying around or anything, just going straight up. It starts out slowly enough, but the speed begins to pick up pretty rapidly once it's risen up past the treeline. Not break neck speed, but none of this lolly gaggin' BS either, we got places to go damn it! The light cloud layer approaches rapidly, and it's like running through a water mister when the row boat wooshes through it. And then, there it is. Space. The cloud carpet is bright white with reflected light, hte moon is simply fucknormous, bigger than it should be while the sun seems smaller than it should, and so very distant. Infinite void in all directions, more stars than you could see from the ground on the clearest night, and hey! No one's boiling or suffocating in the vaccume of space! Magiiiiic! *jazz hands*

xxxxx"Wyrm stronghold, Wyrm stronghold," the Bone Gnawer mutters, rifling through her pack for talens and crossbow bolts. She eyes Beanie while her Familiar tries to wheedle a glossy-black feather from Abril's Crow totem. "Banes for sure, how many Spirals are you thinkin'?" she asks Mercy and Branton.

xxxxxAs Mercy gives the speech, Abril practically curls up in the bottom of the boat. All the better to avoid any motion-sickness from watching the sudden rise. Crow however is practically the opposite, hoping from bench to bench (though still all wings inside the boat!) and taunting Beanie by waving those glorious tail feathers.

xxxxxBranton nods at Iris and keeps an eye on Cindy, as he shrugs at Irsa "Not sure, likely enough that I'm probably going to bring Tranquility, just in case." the name is said as he pats an eighteen inch cylinder hanging from his belt.

xxxxxCindy laughs happily as things begin to move. And again with a bit of nervousness to the sound. More so the higher and faster the boat gets. Space looms near she grabs the hand of the person next to her. Or behind her. Or in front. Someone is going to hold her hand! She'll settle for a crow wing if needed. The kin winces as space is almost here and holds her breath. Because that's what they teach you to do in astronaut school, right?

xxxxx"Well, it's like this." Mercy says while the row boat ascends up into the heavens towards its mother ship, Space Boat. "There's this old wizard college, right. Pretty famous, I found out about it while researching for this trip to begin with in Branton's library. Any how, it got over run by the Wyrm at one point. Think of it, a fucking wizard college, just... VAST amounts of knowledge stuffed into one gloriously corrupted place. I'm pretty sure we cant eliminate the place or anything, I think that'd require an army, but we can liberate some of that stolen knowledge and if push comes to shove, we can kill a lotta bad guys while we run away. BSDs though? No idea. Some, surely. We'll find out when we get there!" She nods sagely to Branton and says, "Yeah, I'm gonna pack a couple hail Mary's myself, juuuuust in case."
xxxxxThe row boat docks gently at the back of the big confusing umbra ship. It's crawling with spirits, a lot of Aetherial spirits of light and what not, some earthly elemental spirits, stuff like that. They're running around unfurling the humongous red sails and the accompanying black sails, making sure things are tied down tightly and all that jazz. Mercy will offer a hand to help people aboard! "Irsa and Branton, you guys wanna show the ladies the way to the cabins while I get this baby moving?"

xxxxx"Once you're up here you kinda don't even need th' boat to maneuver outside th' ship," Irsa confides to Abril. "Check it out, you can kinda swim-paddle all around th' ship once we reach it. Umbra ain't the Tellurian, for real. Still, I wouldn't risk trying to fly to Mercury solo for lawls." She passes around some teriyaki jerky before she hops out of the boat. "On it!" she says, as her Rat offers a shiny bottle cap to the Crow.

xxxxxAbril's eyes widen as Mercy mentions the Wyrmish wizards and their //secrets// to steal. Shadow Lord and crow are both so definitely in on this. Her shoulder is also like, right there for possible Cindy-bracing if needed. "I can armor, when come to sneaking to stronghold."

xxxxxCindy looks around. People are talking. Even still she holds her breath a little longer then lets out the air she held. Picking up the pack and looking a bit bewildered, she gets out of the row boat. "Cabin?" she asks in a voice a little more tepid than earlier. "Which way am I going?"

xxxxx"This way," Irsa grunts, shooing people ahead of her and pointing midships. Just off th' Lounge. Hope you like karaoke, we put on a mean party on after these runs."

xxxxxPeople with Rage will note that it's harder to feel onboard the space boat. It's not suppressed or anything, it's just that the difficulty to frenzy is a 9, so you know, happy hippy vibe going on. The cabins that the new folk are lead to are a lot like small motel rooms, the only major differences being that they've got optional accomidations for beast born, and also the decorators might have been fantastically high at the time they got to work.
xxxxxBy the time everyone's had a chance to do room related stuff and come back out into the open, Iris is rummaging around behind the bar in the lounge. The Earth is gone, or rather it's just back behind the ship, slowly shrinking away in the distance. The boat itself is cruising at ridiculous speeds along a shimmering golden path, and the spirits are meandering around, doing their jobs or having some gnosis lunch in the lounge, totally normal stuff.

xxxxxIt doesn't take long for Abril to make herself comfortable. And out of the cabin she comes a padding on four oversized hispo feet. Plop-plop-plop.

xxxxxBeanie is up the main mast, singing and playing up in the rigging. A slap-fight erupts as one of Iris' space-flower-faced spirit crew tries to claim the crow's nest, but the squabble ends up with both spirits playing look-out up there. Irsa joins the others in the lounge, fully loaded for bear.

xxxxxBranton nods along as his mate explains and then moves to show Abril to a cabin to get her settled "This kinda looks like a wooden sailing ship, it also happens to actually be one. In addition to being one of the most complex magical constructions anyone in the sept owns. Its pretty amazing. This your first time off world right?"
xxxxxBranton meets her coming out of the cabin rather.

xxxxx"Went to Cheese Moon. Ate Shark Boards." Abril answers for her own galactic adventures. Not quite an old-hand about the space ship, but she's not a novice either!

xxxxx"AH HA!" Iris shouts, and finds what she was looking for, starting to make some dopeass drinks for everyone. It should be noted that she has no idea how to make drinks. She brings these drinks and a bowl of cut up fruit around and flomps herself on a beanbag near the gathering gang. Other people that Were Here The Whole Time are just like still in their cabins or wandering around, wtf ever works! "This'll be fun! It's a bit long, trip-wise, but I promise, totally fun the whole way. Even the super terrifying parts, probably!"

xxxxx"Beanie was singin' that Cheese-Moon song for weeks after," Irsa remarks as she tests the edge of her bolt-heads against her thumb. "Skip me on th' alcohol, Mercy, I still ain't figured the trick of not shifting inta Glabro when I down th' stuff." No drinks for her, only Sunny D, hissss.

xxxxx"My opinion?" Mercy says while sipping on her own drink, and looking super surprised that it doesn't taste like death, "You need to learn how to feel safe. Alcohol can make you vulnerable, hell just accepting drinks from someone else can make you vulnerable. I think you shift when you drink because you don't really feel safe deep down inside, so you make yourself ready for danger, and jack your metabolism to preemptively combat what you're drinking. Maybe do some meditating on the theory, see if it has any truth to it and maybe that'll lead you down a path to overcoming it. Or if it doesn't ring true at all, at least you know that's a theory off the table!"

xxxxxAbril honestly has more attention for the fruit cup than the drink-drinks. But maybe all those successes translated into some cool knife tricks too like Apple Swans. "Maybe stick alcohol in the fruit. Not drink, eat. Surprise!"

xxxxxBranton nods at what his mate says as he accepts his drink "A lot of R and D is finding stuff that doesn't work. Failing in new and interesting ways." Then to Abril "Like Sangria?"

xxxxxIrsa scratches her jaw, thinking over Mercy's advice. "Maybe, wouldn't hurt t' try none. But why Glabro, though? Can't imagine much safer than Crinos or a big ol' wolf form. First step up on the ladder of Changing, maybe?" She's sorely tempted by Abril's idea, for sure.

xxxxx"Veil protection." is Mercy's hip shot guess, "I mean, you're a sept kid, so the Litany is in your bones. Even in your rebelious phase, I bet you never even got close to veil breaking if you could help it. Plus you're a good person. Bone Gnawer, LA upbringing, humans were probably your biggest danger. Banes and BSDs aside, it's the big threat of the veil that keeps all three sides in check, so glabro'd be the safest thing for you to instinctually bust out while trying to have a drink somewhere, whether you worry about getting jumped by the wyrm or just some human assholes." She blows a slight raspberry and says, "I should totally have soaked some fruit. I'm sorry, Strikes Twice!" She grins at Branton as well and says, "Failing spectacularly is sometimes super fun, too. Man, your totem is going to be so thrilled with all of this, too!"

xxxxxIrsa thinks that over. "Yeah, maybe. Or I'm just gettin' Rage-pissy with the alcohol kickin' in so I'm keyed up to fight. But I really ain't an angry drunk, so I dunno if that fits. We can experiment after the ass-kickin' portion, yeah?"

xxxxx"Always time. Start now, victory fruit?" Abril suggests with a grin. Because really who doesn't like celebrating victory over wyrmish forces with some not-quite-scientific experimentation on friends?

xxxxxBranton nods at Iris "Oh yeah. Driving the Wyrm away from magic places, discovering lost sorcery. This is all her jam. Not her usual neighborhood celestially speaking but that's not as big a deal for her as it for some gods."

xxxxxIrsa looks around the group and breaks into a toothy grin. "Check it out, all th' tricksy knowledge-seeking Totem peeps all in one room. Aelous, Hecate, Meros and Crow? Hell yeah. Can't get any better with that spread."

xxxxx"I think it does if you look at it in a Garou-specific sort of way." Mercy says, wobbling her head in thought, "I mean rage isn't really *just* anger, it's more pure passions, though obviously of the more volitile persuasion. Anger, lust, fear, all that sorta thing fits into the rage zone, I think. Fight or flight are siblings, you know? That's why I think it boils down to you not really feeling safe. Like you've *always* got to be on your guard, to the point that it's whether you like it or not, whether you think about it or not. This thing offers a weakness, immediately counter to balance back out and avoid being un-safe."
xxxxxMercy snaps and points at Abril, getting up to do just that. While fiddling behind the bar to aquire fruits and booze, she tells Branton, "We don't have anything better than a few drawings of the place, and you're a super smart book nerd, sooooooo you're gonna need to take point at the college, I think. Avoid us grabbing generally useless, like... Encyclopedia Britanicas or whatever. We need that *good* stuff. That okay with you?"

xxxxx"Shit, I should be Shifting to Earth, Wind and Fire jams, then. Vibin' in Hispo would be dope." Irsa muses this over as she sets her weaponry aside and peers at the fruit-doctoring across the way. "How many books we looking to nab? It just books, or you got some other things in mind?"

xxxxx"Like they want us go and do this together," Abril nods in agreement with Irsa and the totem-trend. And then a head tilt as she considers the whole grabbing of knowledge plan. "If see somebody, I can try //look// see if have something they no want us to find?" Secret-Shadow-Lord-Sniffing Gifts.

xxxxxBranton nods at Iris "Sure is. I know most of the languages the wizardy type will workers used for their texts..." then he points at Irsa "She makes an excellent point. I'll prepare a spell circle on board the ship and then I can draw another in the college so we can load it up and send stuff along that's important but not books."

xxxxx"Not sure. I mean I'm trying to think about it terms of 'as much as we can carry', or 'as much as we can fit into all these sacks' or whatever, but to be perfectly honest I have NO idea what's even there." Mercy says. "For all I know, it looks like that prophecy room in Harry Potter. Just snow globes everywhere. So yeah, if you two" she points at Abril and Branton, "wouldn't mind teaming up to get us towards the best loot we can reasonably get to without dying, that'd be *awesome*. I love the circle idea, that's gonna be great. You, Irsa, if you'd stick by Boots and back him up as party protection squad, that'd be also awesome. Spot spiritual trouble or magic traps or... whatever. I dunno what we're gonna run into, but you're capable as fuck."

xxxxx"I got 'Fucking up Banes for a Hundred', Alex," Irsa says wryly. "They ain't gonna get past me and Cruz. Dancers, neither." She grins at the praise.

xxxxxBranton nods at Iris "We can totally do that, between my Precog and some charms to sense concentrations of magic energy I should be able to find some pretty sweet spots."

xxxxx"We might should split this into groups..." Mercy muses while sipping. "Team Secret Stealers and Team Badass. I mean I know that'll rapidly fall apart when and if shit hits the fan, but still. At least we'll have some people knowing they're dedicated to getting Stuff and some knowing they're dedicated to holding the doors shut till it's time to retreat and kick ass on the way. Thoughts?"
xxxxxFor the benefit of Boots: We're on the space boat, you've totally been here the whole time. You've got a cabin you might have been putting your stuff in, or you could have been wandering around marveling about a mu'fuckin boat in umbral space, whatever works for you. We're currently moving, the earth is behind the boat and really small, and there's a yellow planet incoming off the port bow. The gang is currently located in the lounge where they're talking about stuff, checking ammo, drinking, all that sorta thing. And Abril is AFK for a minute, but totally here.

xxxxxIrsa rummages through her gear and sets out four vials filled with inky black liquid. "Got my last Nightshade talens here. If we wanna sneak, I'd suggest we take these. Only get thse four, so someone'll have to go without."

xxxxxSpace! The final frontier! After hurking up whatever he'd eaten earlier, Boots was now ready to socialize. Making his way to the lounge, he finds himself a seat. His axe and shield are within reach, and he does pick up the former to check it for any damage. Frost giants are tough, yo. "Nightshade? For sneakin'?"

xxxxx"I mean, yeah. Nightshade talens are kick-ass no matter what Rank you are," Irsa confirms for Boots. "Rhapsody and I used 'em during our Athro Challenge, they saved our asses a few times. Also got a couple of Luna's Avenger talens. Think of those like, armor made out of moonlight, but you'll light up like her. You an' me can pop these if we run into something that we can't run from and absolutely gotta fight cause we can't run from it. Like... Oh, I dunno, a Nexus Crawler."

xxxxxBranton sips his sparkly beverage and grins as he finds a three foot by three foot corner of the lounge to clear out and starts chalking a spell circle on the floor "Everyone knowing what part they're supposed to be up to is important. Technically this translocation can carry people but I can move a lot more cargo if none of it's alive."

xxxxxAbril nods along at the plan. "I'm good at look. And sneak. And if have to fight, can fight sneaks back to Team Kick-Ass." It is indeed a plan!

xxxxxOver at the bar, Iris dumps some hacked up fruit into bowl and towels off her hands before upending a bottle into the bowl as well. Preparing some victory nuggets for after the heist. "Ooh! No living cargo, that should be a thing. We don't want to accidentally transport back some kinda... gross bad thingie. If we have to do emergency exits for US, I've got us covered, as does my totem. I'm assigning myself to Kinfolk shielding over at Secret Stealers, and long distance medic for both teams. Cause that's just what I know how to do. Kaz'll probably want to be Team Kick Ass, dunno about Jackie, Rhapsody MIGHT wanna go Team Secret Stealers. Either way, I bet we'll have a pretty decently even split. We should do well! Oh, shit, lemme go through my emergency inventory, see what kinda toys I can spread around."

xxxxxBoots slowly gets to his feet as things start moving in terms of the plan. "Team Kick Ass, yep." The axe is rested over a shoulder, while his shield is strapped on for now. If he's going to fight, he's going to do it right. "Nexus Crawler? Only one?" Cocky little shit.

xxxxxIrsa gnoshes on some more jerky as she listens to the others. More snacks are passed out, cus sharing is caring, and meat protein is just the thing to fire up those thinking caps.

xxxxxAbril considers more, looking between the groups as teams and tasks are assigned. "How do we communicate between groups? Howl //works// but not best if don't want Wyrm wizards also know something up?"

Branton considers "I don't think the wizards were wyrmy, more weavery if anything. They're all dead now though and the place is over run by the wyrm. I think. If I read that stuff correctly."

xxxxx"I mean.... That's not necessarily out of the question. It's a mage college after all, so like, there's Nephandi there." Mercy nods to Branton, "If they wanna summon a nexus crawler, it's probably not the weirdest shit they've done this month!" She gives a laugh while she stores the booze-fruit and goes looking through her Bigass Purse. "I've got some stuff I can share around. Arrows I can share with Rhapsody, and um, yeah we're probably good." She tells Abril, "Well, we should be in the same room, I cant think of any reason why we should split up in an evil college. I've seen horror movies before! The teams are more for efficiency's sake while we're there. But FIRST..."
xxxxx She slings her bag on and heads towards the lounge door, "We gotta pay proper respects and head there." She points towards a slowly embigening red dot that has a slight trail of sparks behind it. The sun is no longer itty bitty, it's gotten a lot bigger in the time since heading out, and yep, it's bright as fuck. Don't look directly at it. "This part'll be pretty safe, Mercury isn't a combat god or anything. Just uh, don't weigh yourself down, only bring what you need."

xxxxxFour paws, fur coat, teef. Abril is ready to go and gives a shake as if to demonstrate she knows to travel light! Crow brings himself anyways.

xxxxxIrsa eyes her pack and stuffs it under the table. "Yeah, better safe than sorry, just stick together. Yo, Beanie! Mercury time!" The Rat bounds down from the rigging and hops up onto Irsa's shoulders. She shifts to lupus, all the better to use her senses.

xxxxxBranton actually has two magic items he specifically named for this god's greek face, and he makes a particular point of bringing those because there's nothing that shows your modern human adoration like showing up to a place in the patron's merch.

xxxxxThe approaching planet is red and white and yellow, and peppered with craters. It leaves a short trail of sputters and sparks as the shit tons of phosphorous dust that it sheds ignites this close to the sun. And boy, the sun is a whole 'nother story. It grows as well, and it is frankly HUGE. Mercury is but a speck by comparison, and we're pretty speckish ourselves by comparison to Mercury, so... Yeah. Just wall to wall sun ahead of the ship.
xxxxxMercy has gone to the steering deck, cause the auto pilot doesn't know when to throw on the breaks and take an off ramp. She steers the boat in close to the planet and cruises a little bit till she finds the right spot and parks in geo-synch orbit.
xxxxx"Fun fact! Mercury is patron to Bone Gnawers and Ragabash, and all his craters are named after artists. Take a breath, and when you're ready, step off the boat." She does so to demonstrate, climbing up onto the railing and stepping off into space, where she just kinda hovers and floats. Cause magic.

xxxxxBranton grins and vaults over the railing a beat behind his mate, excited to be on his way "This is going to be fantastic. And less broken glass and splinters in my backside."

xxxxx"No weapons first?" He guesses. The axe and shield are set down as the young man shifts to his Lupus form. <<When are we fighting?>> Impatient.

xxxxxRagged Brown Wolf growls out agreement with Branton and cocks her head to listen to Mercy. She's not about to question her mentor -- she leaps over the starboard side with a 'whuf!' of excitement, all four feet paddling in the air. Air swimming, ya'll.

xxxxxStrikes-Twice watches as the planet approaches. As for the knowledge about the craters and stuff, she goes a little wide eyed as she follows Mercy-the-Garou onto Mercy-the-Planet. << I don't know how to paint. >>

xxxxx"Once we've said wussup to the realm god. And like also told him we're gonna start a fight on his doorstep. THEN we go slaughter shit." Mercy says encouragingly! "So like... Couple hours." Or more likely next scene. Same diff, though! "Also, here, take these." She floats around to hand everybody a cinnamon hard-candy talen. "To protect you from the heat on the surface." And once everyone's floating and got their candy, she says, "Just think about moving forward. You can totally fly if you *want* to fly."
xxxxxThere's no burning up on approach to the planet, which is great. Mercy aims them towards a particular bigass crater that itself has been pelted repeatedly by smaller meteors, leaving a fantastic maze of rock formations, lakes of silvery mercury, and colorful burning pits. It's hellish, but in a really artsy sort of way.

xxxxxRagged Brown Wolf has no idea if she's supposed to suck on this red-hot cinnamon thing or just suck on it. She does the next best thing: she crunches it up in her jaws and sucks on the pieces as she space-swims down. No wolf swimming for her, though, she's doing her best impression of a sea otter.

xxxxxAbril is doggie-paddling. Hispo-paddling?

xxxxxMouth full of cinnamon candy, FAFO starts paddling - wolf-style. This is clearly not his element. Nope. He looks over to the ragged wolf, shaking his head as he does his best. (tm)

xxxxxBranton is well schooled at flying in formation with Iris, and professional enough to not get distracted by oogling her.

xxxxxThe gang touches down in a relatively safe spot, the ground rocky and barren, one entire horrizon is a wall of fire, the sun, while the other is an orange tinged night sky. It takes exactly zero effort to meet and greet the realm god, because he just sorta shows up. Most kings or whatever tend to have their spot, you gotta do the gauntlet and get TO them, but Mercury is the god of speed and general rules fuckery, so he isn't the sort of spirit to sit still when he could be on the move. There's like a minute to look around and then he shows up.
xxxxxHe's been known throughout history and has many names and faces. To the Gnawers, he likely shows up as a fit, slim young man that looks every bit the bike messenger. To Iris and possibly Branton, there's a more classical Greek Hermes look. For Abril, a very large, very swift wolf with red/yellow fur. However he *looks*, he shows up at amazing speed, his form blurring behind him and dust rooster tailing in his wake. Very Quicksilver. "Hey. Who're you?" he asks right off the bat, wasting zero time. The question is asked neutrally, maybe a little curiously. He don't get a ton of visitors.

xxxxx>> We are Explorers! << Irsa-wolf barks as she lands, wagging her tail politely. >> I am Hammer-Tooth, spirit-moon Bonegnawer. We have come on the flying boat, see? << Her snout points in the space-boat's direction.

xxxxx<< Explorers from Land of Prospect! >> Strikes-Twice adds on after Irsa's bark. << Strikes-twice, Shadow Lord. Half-Moon. Fostern. >> Short and sweet for the speedster diety.

xxxxxBranton bows slightly and offers over a specially prepared bottle of Ouzo "Branton Kholer, kinfolk to the Black Fury tribe, Spouse of Elder Theurge Iris 'Mercy's Messenger' Tiganites, Klaive-smith, Pyrokinetic, and Sorcerer-Shaman in the service of Hecate, the Mother of Spells and Lady of the Crossroads." With a gesture to Iris he adds "My mate has a request to make and so we came to pay our respects before being about our other business in the area."

xxxxxMottled Gray Wolf bows his head to the ... thin man. <<Boots. Rited FAFO. Ahroun of the Bone Gnawers. Cliath.>> That should do, right? He's not impolite, just clearly not a social butterfly.

xxxxxMercury takes the bottle from Branton and, while totally listening to everyone, has himself a little sniff sniff and taste test. "You're invited to my birthday party." He tells Branton while slipping the bottle away into his messenger bag/robes/fur or whatever. "Nice to meet you!" he adds to Abril, and then the Gnawers he smiles and says, "Niiiice. Fist me bro, get up in there!" to Boots while extending his own fist for a knuckle tap for his favored tribe. Yeah, he knows how that sounded, just pushing boundaries with humor and all that.
xxxxxMercy adds to the Introductions, "I'm Iris, Mercy's Messenger, Elder Black Fury Theurge. I'd like to barter with you for a piece of your home world." With the quest updated, Mercury says, "Well, we're going to have to do that atop the Bartering Pole. C'mon, keep up!"

xxxxxStrikes-twice has no fists, just paws at the moment, though she curiously watches FAFO to find out how //he'll// return the god's greeting. << Do you only trade things or also trade stories? >> She also asks.

xxxxxRagged Brown Wolf jogs in place as introductions are done. It's hot up in here, talens or no. Beanie inches forward so her head is resting atop the theurge's and twitches her nose at the Celestine. "Great shoes. Want a bottle cap?" the Rat asks him, twirling a Pabst Blue Ribbon variety between her paws. "It was on the MOON, can you believe it?"

xxxxxWell, it's a headbonk from FAFO to Mercury's fist - best he's got. No need to potentially claw the major spirit. <<Keep up?>> He chuffs, ready to race after the God.

xxxxxBranton does not often have cause to go as fast as he can. But if not here then where? So the embossed wings on the ankles of his boots flicker with magic and sparks of white lightning scatter from his amulet and dance all over his form as he bursts into motion to follow the god's direction.

xxxxx"Ooh, moon cap." Not one to turn down a good deal, he does a quick haggle with Beanie and settles on letting her rummage around in a trunk that he cant remember the inventory of. Might be great, might be awful, there's just no way to know! Not till they get there, any how. "Yep!" he tells FAFO, and bolts off in the direction he came from, leaving the group in his dust. He can be heard yelling "Slow pokes!", taunting us all for not being made of Go.
xxxxxChasing is a little easier said than done. The hotass ground isn't the issue so much as sudden ignitions of phosphorous, rock formations in the way, intermittent poisonous mercury streams and such. But if you're quick, yell 'parkour!' while jumping around, and don't think about how dangerous this is, you'll be fine!

xxxxxBeanie squirrels that trade away quick as lightning and climngs on for dear life as Irsa takes off. "Yaaaah mule, yaaaaa!" the Rat squeaks, pulling on Irsa's wolf-ears like reins. Good thing there's a parkour course up on the roof of Dead Mall, or this might have ended in disaster. She's not the fastest runner, but she can run forever with her great stamina and she's got Catlike Balance (tm).

xxxxxMercy "WOO!"'s and makes it like three steps before immediately falling on her face in a combination of failed magic and failed stamina. "Whaaaaaat the fuuuuck." she groans, picking herself up and going after her folk. She'll do better on the next bit!
xxxxxThe blur and dust of the god's path zips up and over a big rocky wall. There's ways to get up in any form, and a fall wont be lethal or anything, but it'll hurt a bit.

xxxxxAbril may be a little unsure in her steps but... she's gonna give it ago anyways. The Shadow Lord isn't the quickest of runners but maybe like the turtle in the hair slow and steady could win the race? Or at least just not land on one's face?

xxxxxNothing fancy for FAFO - just pure anger and the fury of the Full Moon to fuel him as he bolts over the hellish landscape. No class, no grace - just furious motion.

xxxxxRagged Brown Wolf's just turned into a wolf rocket. She's nowhere near as fast as Branton might be, but for someone not using a Gift she's zooming over the smoking rocks and stones and up that rock face like ape hopped up on steroids.

xxxxxBranton decides that taking flight would just be cheating so he puts on a sprint before going for a high jump.

xxxxxIt's a matter of physics? Biology? Wolves weren't necessarily designed to climb or scale cliffs. FAFO is stuck at the base of the wall, growling and scrabbling at the rocks.

xxxxxAbril hops and hips her way up the rock face. Hey, it's progress!

xxxxxThe rock wall isn't too terrible, it just slows some people way down, or speeds some people way up, depending on the skill and on total luck. Branton manages to leap launch himself up to the halfway point and scuttle up hot on Irsa's heels, Iris is making up some loss by circus gumby-ing her way up. Abril finds safe places to plant her paws and Boots-wolf isn't falling to his death or anything, it's just so friggin *vertical*, damn it! It slows the Ahroun down this round.
xxxxxUp at the top there's a brilliant view of the crater that Mercury has planted his home at. The dusty orange landscape is carved with moats and rivers that create a splendid mandala sort of design with liquid mercury. Bare hills of flamable dusts spark and sputter in numerous colors, and out there in the center of it is a little town. You just gotta hop and leap your way through that mandala of poison. It's like when you played The Floor Is Hot Lava as a kid.

xxxxxSafety is relative! Into the home stretch and Abril wipes out, slidding on down the rock wall on her belly. Up at the top, Crow just gives a sad shake of his head.

xxxxx"Go go go go go!" Beanie squeaks as Irsa bounds back and forth, whirling and dashing like a mad dervish to get through this super-hot obstacle course. Determined wolf, right there.

xxxxxEven with helping some people up when they face plant, Irsa and Branton are the first across, Irsa, JUST beating the kinfolk by like one jump. Next is Mercy and Boots, pretty much neck and neck, followed by Abril right behind them. And the best part is no one freakin died! Hooray!

xxxxxRagged Brown Wolf yowls and does a celebratory dance, right there in wolf-form. She bumps her head up against everyone, tail wagging furiously. >> No one is dead, meat things for all! <<

xxxxxBranton laughs in excitment and dances with the excited wolves "That was great! Everyone okay?"

xxxxxMercy puts her hands on her knees to catch her breath, "Uuuuuugh!" she wails, "I think I use my wings too much. Am I out of shape? I think I'm getting out of shape."
xxxxxThe town that could be seen earlier is just a jog away. It's a collection of buildings throughout different ages and cultures, a lot of them recognizable to the homids of the group but there's some that aren't familiar at all. While a village, there's no pubs or homes or anything like that around. The place is populated by spirits and they don't need that. Instead, it's trade houses and commerce points throughout history, building after building a trade hub from somewhere, somewhen. The spirits that inhabit the town are all spirits of trade, currency, diplomacy and so on.

---

Scene Two! We skip forward a bit, players get back together on a new day and get some RP in while waiting for everyone.

---

So here we are, on Mercury. The folk that came have, for the moment any how, sorta split up to explore a little bit, now that we're in Mitanu's personal sanctuary, so you know. It's pretty fuckin safe, totally fine to wander and not freak out about horror movie rules. Iris has some pending negotiations, but they'll happen in the background in a few. Buildings from different eras make up this little "town", all trade hubs and commerce buildings through the ages. The local spirits relate to trade, deals, money, fire, light, and go-go-go. Lots of the spirits are what you'd expect them to look like. Fire people, exceptionally fast critters, flecks of light that zip around and what not. I'm not entirely sure what the conceptual spirit of A Sweetass Deal would look like, but it's probably pretty interesting. The arrival of living beings throws everyone into a whole tizzy, cause boy do they have a deal for you! Fair deals, bad deals, great deals, BOGO BABY! The only problem is that there's... not actually a lot of stuff here. I mean it's Mercury, not a mall, there's no *actual* supply chain or products available anywhere. So you know, you gotta help out with that, have lunch and stuff sent down from the ship. Why the hell did we agree to let Abril make lunch?? No idea, but she's got spirits around her suggesting different spatula brands and such. One of them is yelling about SPATULA CITY! and Iris is just watching this whole thing, so, so baffled and entertained.

Who decided to let a lupus in the kitchen (mostly) unsupervised? Because that's where Abril is. She has thankfully avoided usage of the knives and there's been no heat sources sought yet. But that carton of eggs? It's seen some things. Mostly, Abril's hands as she goes through trying to crack them. There's been a lot of effort put into it, her tongue sticking out as she attempts to crack egg 7 but... really she's just squishing it with her hands. Shells and goo dripping through clenched fist into the bowl below.

Branton is used to being the maker but not usually the cook, still though he stands ready to assist if Abril should request it. He mostly though just stands near his mate and sips a coffee as he murmurs quietly "Should we shoo any of them off so she can focus?"

Abril has some serious egg-goo hands and even she can see that this is a problem as she flexes the gooey hand and considers all those tempting offers from the spirits, but one with the Spatula to End All Spatulas, the seven in one kitchen tool that promises you'll never have a cluttered kitchen drawer again catches her attention. She nods along to the fast winded spiel as if catching every word of it. But once she eventually gets a chance to speak it's not with a yes or a no, but a counter-proposal! "Sell better with demonstration. You have spatula, but no food. I have food, but no spatula." And so with that, she tilts the bowl towards the mercantile spirit and raises an eyebrow to see if there might be a deal.

"Yeah but then we'd just have to watch Abril cook, and this is... way more interesting." Iris counters. I mean yes, shooing the spirits would probably definitely help, but... "And she's getting important life lessons over there! Cause really, what *better* way is there to say 'I love you' than with a spatula? Some boy wolf is going to be *so* confused in the future, but there will be a gnawed on spatula sent down through the lupine generations, a relic of an insane love story that might have only been made possible by trying to make an... That's an omelette, right?? Hey, how come *you* never give me spatulas?" she adds to Branton. Now, over by Abril, there's some very serious nods and hemming and hawing over there, cause she DOES have a gotcha style point right there, doesn't she? The spatula selling spirit is put in the hot seat with all the other trader spirits looking at it. It put out the trade offer but... Damn it. She HAS a point! The spirit sort of shrinks in on itself, humming, vibrating, attempting to go super saiyan, until POP! a grand spatula appears out of nowhere and thuds into the pan. This leaves the spirit dazed and wobbly. Teleporting things is rough, dawg. Iris blurts, "HA!!"

Branton nods sagely and snickers at the banter and bargaining on display before answering his mate's question "I thought the kitchen was my place as kinfolk. I mean I can't be pregnant but I can be barefoot and in the kitchen yeah?"

Abril may have heard the words of the spiel... Spatula, Knife, Bottle Opener, Meat Tenderizer and that all sounded great in THEORY. But now she has that magical all-in-one device in hand and still know actual knowledge on how to use any of those things, at least not in culinary purposes. But a deal is a deal and so she gives a solemn nod to the wobbly little spirit as she picks up the utensil and contemplates it. There's a show of rolling up her sleeves and then... Egg 8. It meets much the same fate as eggs 1 through 7, but this time is different! For this time, it is force cracked onto the smiley face that is in the mega-spatula. And somehow, the unbroken yolk remains on the spatula while the whites and shell bits flow down to the pan below. And while Egg Seperator is now added to the many, many functions of the device, Abril realizes the main problem with her whole cooking setup besides her lack of cooking... there's a spin about with pan in one hand, spatula and yolk in another. "Branton???? Where fire?"

Iris laughs hard enough at Branton's quip to choke on her drink (probably coffee), and has to set it down due to laughing and coughing at the same time, lest she spill it everywhere. It already came out her nose a bit as is, and she uses the hem of her shirt to wipe her face. "I mean, TECHNICALLY, but it's been proven that weird magic babies exist, so I mean... ... ...Please don't get knocked up, I'd be a really terrible father." she tells her hubby with a laugh. Abril's ernest question gets another round of laughter out of her, that expression and tone just kills her! Just then, a lumpy, slope browed spirit bursts in with a sales pitch. "Want fire?! FIRE GOOD! Fire make snack stay snack long time!" The caveman-esque spirit smacks the floor with its club. Granted, it doesn't happen to HAVE any fire on its person, but it will totally try to sell fire none the less.

Branton looks around briefly for a moment and considers. Gesturing he lifts a few stones with the power of his mind and nudges them into the shape of a fire ring, and out of the survival gear in the landing boat comes a small pan as well to float over the fire ring as he says "There you go Abril. Oh! Yeah, fire." And he snaps his fingers and the rock in the middle of the ring cracks as it glows with heat enough to warm the pan for frying.

"If not eaten first, snack //would// stay snack long time..." Abril agrees with the caveman-spirit (in principal, but not in sale) as she takes her pan of egg whites and multi-functioned spatula that's also functioning as egg separator and yolk holder over to where Branton is setting up. She walks slowly and oh so carefully so as not to drop said yolk. But by the time the fire is going, she holds eggs white pan over first. Yolk still being reserved for... reasons.

Since we're in Mitanu's sanctuary (post race), so to speak, it's been deemed perfectly safe to split up and wander around, see the different trade architecture of the ages, haggle with spirits, whatever. Iris, Branton and Abril are at a little square where Abril has been attempting to make lunch using stuff brought down from the ship. Pans and eggs and stuff, but she has a MAGNIFICENT spatula in her hand that definitely didn't come from Space Boat. She's surrounded by trade spirits while Branton and Iris are having coffee, and there's currently a very, very old, very caveman-esque spirit attempting to sell her fire. That spirit is startled and amazed when Branton just... *makes* fire. It's got that very typical amzed and astonished caveman face on, "OO! FIRE! YES!" it yells while beating its chest, "Good quality, hot hot like GOOD fire, not like bad discount fire, only hot rock with little smoke. That not good fire. THIS good fire." The spirit knows its flaming QA, you know.

Ragged Brown Wolf sits down to watch the cooking process. One ragged ear twitches as she watches Abril work. >> Flat egg-things are always good, << she growls at the philodox. But ho, trading! You gotta take another form for this. She's checking out the traders now, seeing what's available.

Branton grins as his mate laughs and nods sagely at his fellow fire merchant "Right fire for right job though. Food making fire is not my strongest fire. Food can't take it."

"Egg things will be... mostly flat. Not round like egg-egg." Abril nods agreement to Irsa and after the whites have had time to solidify a bit, then she finally lowers the yolk onto the white-bed. And then for the fire merchant she gives a not-so-subtle whisper, nodding towards Branton. "Friend there knows least twenty different fire types."

Irsa rummages around in her handy-dandy fetish pack for trade bait. "Yeah, these are better for that," she agrees with Branton, holding out a small box of waterproof matches for the caveman spirit to check out. "These don't make big, kick-ass fires, but these lil' sticks will light if ya get 'em wet." They might not be useful on Mercury, but novelty trades can be interesting.

Fire Merchant Caveman Spirit Dude moves closer to Branton, an obvious business associate in the awesomeness of fire (and the trading and selling of fire). Abril's whisper certainly helps the approach. There's a mix of upright walking and using its knucles and club, still somewhat in the zone of its conceptual primate ancestors. "Haaaaaaave... big beast fire? Little lookie-in-dark fire?" it asks, attempting to determine the depth of Branton's fire inventory. Meanwhile, Iris reaches over to scritch her (currently homid but whatever she's still gonna scritch) apprentice Irsa and says, "Abril's making lunch. Or... dinner? I dunno what time it is. Food though, making food! Gordon Ramsey would have a heart attack, BUT, he might be jealous of her new spatula, which I think would get her a passing grade." Oh my god waterproof matches. This old spirit has no idea what those are, but does grok that they are magic fire stick thingies maybe, and attempts to secret them away in... pockets hadn't been invented yet... Nostrils, yes. Natures pockets!

Branton grins at his new friend and shrugs as he makes a cup with one hand, calling on his natural pyrokinetic gifts and skills to make little flames of different colors and intensities dance a little bit "Fire is a big part of how I work and how I help the Garou I travel with."

Abril did promise a demo of the many-in-one spatula and now is it's time. Beyond just being a egg separator, it can indeed perform the main duty of a spatula and flip the deconstructed sunny side up egg to... basically make an over medium egg. When it's cooked a bit, she slips it on out of the pan (ignore any scratches in the non-stick from the knife edge) and onto a plate. Said plate is presented to the spatula-dealer with a flourish. "Demon-stration!" It is food... only slightly burnt and filled with extra calcium deposits from all the shell. But it did non-stick and flipped in one piece!

Irsa grins at the nose-stuffing sight. "How 'bout I throw in somethin' else so you can carry that, and we can work a trade?" she asks the caveman spirit. She digs around in her pack again and finds a small, heavily-worn velvet bag. You know, the kind used to hold a necklace, or a pack of waterproof matches, or the world's smallest sample bottle of Crown Royal. One of the drawstrings is worn through, but surely a handy-dandy caveman could fix that. "Whatcha got?" She eyes Abril's cooking results, looking quite impressed. The best she can do is heat up left-over pizza and maybe hot water.

And now it's time for a fire-product-off! Branton made a handful of fire, so the spirit (with matches up its nose) concentrates and produces a torch. Not an advanced torch mind you, just a stick that's on fire at one end. It seems pretty proud of itself, and maybe a little bit smug, adding, "Mine bigger." Oh look, a bag! It takes the bag, and is probably about to do something completely incorrect with it, but, ooooh, that yeah. It puts the bag over its nose and snorts out the matches into it. "Uh... Trade!" It offers its torch out to Irsa while doing a sort of Vanna White gesticulation at its amazing burning stick. This right here is the HEIGHT of technology, young lady, a true revolutionary discovery that will no doubt help you see, defend yourself, and also burn delicious things and make them last a little longer! At the cooking zone, there's a round of applause for Abril's demonstration and many cheers for her fine work. They have no idea how to cook, themselves, literally never had to do it before, so any imperfections are frankly lost on them. It's not a pile of ash, therefore it must be a successful dish. And thus begins the bargaining over Abril's food, each of them trying to one-up the others near them to offer the better price. Not all of the offerings are understandable, some might be completely made up, but there's gnosis on the table for trade, for sure.

Branton grins at Abril and watches how the spirits are reacting "Knowing your market surely is a thing". Then he turns to watch as his new buddy finds someone to do a deal with "It is very good fire."

Irsa grins like a city wolf who's found a fresh bucket of KFC in a dumpster. "This is perfect, thanks!" she says, going for that trade in a heartbeat. A tool from a flame ancestral spirit can be useful in a theurge's hands. She admires the torch from every angle, cus you gotta compliment the maker for their fine creations.

Ancient trader spirit is super happy. Who knew that a millenia or wtf ever later and he'd still be trading the most awesome invention ever to new people of the modern age, right? Iris has been keeping herself together pretty well, entertained as hell by all of this and just happy to watch it unfold. "I'm not really sure what I was expecting before we came here, this wasn't it, but I'm definitely not complaining."

Branton nods and grins at his mate "I know right? Not the aspect I usually think of but it makes sense. More fun for sure than if it had been a heavenly post office."

Abril isn't fielding those inquiries for her egg herself. Nope. She had a deal. Spatula for Food, and so it's to Spatula-Spirit it goes. But she keeps the spatula. She's got more eggs. The whole bowl full of eggs, shells and all. That all goes into the pan and doesn't even get stirred. It'll cook, eventually.

A brief recap of events: We went to Mercury, and met the celestine of the realm almost immediately. We got challenged to a race, and basically if you were fast enough to not get lost/accidentally killed/fall in the mercury moats, then you're worthy enough to enter into the speedy kingdom of commerce. The town is nothing but trade hubs, markets and what not from throughout the ages of Man, and the spirits are of commerce, money, trade, light, speed, and fire. The landscape is orange, red and white, with colorful fires that flicker and spark where there's phosphorous or other fragile and burnable minerals. One half of the sky is a huge wall of fire (the sun), and the other half is an orange tinted night sky. It's safe enough to have split up to go explore or what have you, so we're only just now meeting back up. This is a great place to have learned some Mercury gifts, the Haggling skill, to have been challenged to foot races or to have somehow been sold twelve toasters in exchange for your pants and shoes. Irsa, Mercy, Abril and Branton have been off to one side with Abril cooking eggs (brought from the ship) and winning herself a fantastic spatula. Irsa has managed to get herself an AMAZING stick-with-one-end-on-fire, and the Furies have learned that love? Love is kitchen appliances.

Irsa has wandered off in search of Beanie, and finds her talking to a circle of flaming rats. A small argument has broken out there, complete with fiery slaps, scuffling and fire-spitting. It simmers down quickly, with grudging chirps and serious side-eyes as burning dominos are slapped down on a flat stone. Someone's Rat has taught the locals a brand-new game. Irsa dropped Beanie.

Boots was still stewing over his colossal fail in climbing the cliff-face. He'd grumbled off on his own, getting out the ineffectual rage at his poor performance. It doesn't take too long before he's back, at least a bit calmer. He glances over to where everyone is gathered - spying the flame rats. Huh. Weird.

Rhapsody has been spending time shopping! Looking for exotic ingredients, and has exchanged her spare shirt and pants for some plant seeds and shiny rocks she has yet to quite identify. Otherwise, she has taken a look around at the building styles here. As she approaches she says to the others, "Have you noticed how some of the buildings here look similar to what was found in ancient times on earth? Straight outta mesopotamia."

Round Two of Eggs and enough to at least snack most of the non-Mercurians about is ready. How does one know it's ready? Because Abril just thumps the pan out onto a plate. Most of them land there anyways. The shadow lord is grinning all too proudly at her creation even as she clings to that twelve-in-one spatula.

The spirits Abril deals with don't technically eat food, but there's gnosis in offerings, so it's basically the same thing. As people get drifted back to gether again, Iris gives Branton's shoulder a squeeze and says, "I'm gonna finish my business real quick, and then let's go beat some ass, yeah? Everybody make sure you've got everything so we're not littering or whatever!" And she's off to go do some background talking with Mitanu for an orrery piece real quick.

Branton nods and grins at Iris and turns to the others as he bustles about policing the landing site "Everyone having a good time so far? The next bit is likely to be a bit more dangerous."

"Time t' bail," Irsa grunts at her Familiar. The spirit chirrs and prances towards Rhapsody with an obsidian acorn curled in her grasping tail. The Bonegnawer theurge does a once-over to make sure her area's clear and shoots a thumb's up at Mercy. "How'd everyone's trading go?" she asks the gang.

"I'm havin' a great time, B-Town. Best road trip so far!" Irsa says to Branton.

Boots says, “I didn't have anythin' to trade." A frown from Boots. "The run was fine, the climb sucked - but that's on me.”

Abril takes two big crunchy bites of her egg monstrosity. and then tosses all the cooking implements she used back into the container from which they came for transport back to the boat. And she tilts her head to Boots. "Trade just //things// is limited. You are more than things." And with that said, time to get ready for potential beat downs and for those, hands aren't really required. Into the bulkier four legged form of hispo she goes!

Off in the background, Mercy and Mercury get to the important business of a trade. She wants a piece of his kingdom willingly given, and who knows what he wants in return. Up onto the Bartering Poles with them! Tall, ornately carved poles, the pair shimmy their way up and sort of plank there on their abdominal muscles while negotiating. The actual practice doesn't seem to do much other than make sure the negotiations don't go on too long. Eventually Mercy asks, "Is this really necessary?!" and the god of Gnawers and Ragabash answers, "Well, no, I just wanted to see if you'd do it." She fails the negotiations by laughing and falling off her pole. A bit more talking, but without poles this time, and eventually she returns to the group. "Good news and bad news. I have to get a thing if I want my rock. Apparently he loaned his caduceus to one of the mages at the college for just a minute, but then the Wyrm took the place over, and he never got it back. So we have to add that to the loot list. Everyone in the row boat!"

Irsa shrugs at Boots. "They weren't too picky. I did waterproof matches an' one of them old velvet jewelry bags for an almost-torch." She points at Abril when the philodox speaks up. "And that, yeah. But hey, we still got trades comin' up with Helios, and if that ain't your speed we can bring ya back here in a bit."

Rhapsody is happy to share, "I got some really nice looking seeds for some plants I've never seen before. And I got some rocks which feel like they are special in some way I got to work out. Going to make a nice place in the courtyard garden for them. In honor of Mercury." She grins as Beanie comes toward her. "Oh can I see that?"

Boots thinks. "I mean, I got to trade something to him? What do I got?" He asks Irsa, as she's the boss in his eyes. Gnawer logic!

Strikes-twice simply shakes her big hispo head at Boots. >> You got you. Tales, Information, Tasks. Spirits aren't Dragons. << Not all of them anyways. And golden eyes focus over on MErcy as she announces what they're after. >> Stick-thing? Wizards have lots sticks. Get all? << She's in, even as she's asking questions she's jumping on into the rowboat and hunkering down.

Branton is helping pack up and stuff, giving the dishes a quick fwooshing before closing up as the discussion of trades and deals and he adds "They must have been from the Order then, hell they're named for one of his Aspects so its not surprising one would have ties enough to make that deal from here."

"Sure!" the Rat chirps, crawling up Rhapsody's legs and curling around her shoulders. She presents the obsidian acorn to the theurge with a flourish of her long tail. "Do you like it? It's a present. For a Black Fury." The item drops into Rhapsody's hands. Irsa snorts with amusement and shifts to Lupus for the next leg of the trip. Boat ahoy! >> Flat-things that heat in metal stump, << she growls at Boots. This is clearly wolf for anything cookable in a microwave or toaster. >> Fire-maker. Shiny things. Things on a string.<< She boggles at Mercy's remarks. "Heal-stick? We can do this. Kill Wyrm-Maker, take thing. <<

Once people are loaded up and what not, the row boat goes upwards like it did when they left earth. Up and up and up, away from the planet's surface and zooming straight towards the back end of the Space Boat. "Alright, stow your stuff and join me on the bridge, we'll get everyone hit with some talens real quick." And when people are there and ready for that... Mercy's got the boat slowly moving through a rocky debris field that's orbiting the planet, being careful not to run in to any bigass boulders or anything. Talens are laid out nearby and ready for everyone's use!

Rhapsody oooos as she checks it out. "This is really a treasure! What a wonderful present!" She does like it, but she likes a lot of cool things. The call to get onto the boat and she'll head that way with Beanie on her shoulder. "Let's go get it and take out the Wyrm!"

While the group is dressing themselves for war, the ship is moved silently and slowly through the broken rocks floating through space, until it's eventually "parked" near a bigass chunk and anchored in place beside it. Mercy checks her map and says quietly, "It's on the other side of this rock. Recap of the plan real fast: We're gonna be quiet as mice, and we're gonna follow Abril's lead towards secrets. Abril, me and Rhapsody will make up the back ranks, stealing as much stuff as possible to put in the transportation circle that I assume Branton's already gotten mostly started. Irsa, Branton and Boots are Team Badass that's going to make sure we have as much time as possible. This plan WILL fall apart very quickly, but we'll maintain it as long as we can. Abril, I need you to stay close to me, cause I'm gonna need your help in a big way real soon, okay?" The college: Beyond the rock the ship hides behind, a short float through open space, is a massive college situated on a rock floating above Mercury. It's huge, sprawling, you can see how ornate and delicately crafted it is even from a distance. Hogwarts can go to hell, this place is amazing. But it's dark, the few lights that can be seen are a sickly green rather than the standard yellow, and it seems somehow overgrown, haunted, broken in a way. There is damage to some of it, certain towers have collapsed completely, arches and columns have been broken in courtyards and pathways look cracked and bashed in places. A hell of a fight happened here in the past!

Branton also takes out a set of stainless steel fillagree braclets, one for each wrist "These will let you handle things without risking contact magic as badly. I can't say there aren't spells out there stronger than mine but it'll help." For his own part Branton is looking pretty well kitted out, more even than usual. Abril loses one Magical Essence

Boots has the gaudiest sword, provided by Messenger's Mercy. He has his dead end sign axe, and his manhole cover shield. He's as ready as he's going to be. The young Gnawer stands prepped, already having strapped on the shield. "You guys are gonna get all the time I can muster."

As the plan is laid out, Strikes-Twice nods her head and she waits for the Elder's cue. There's not a whole lot the hispo form has in way of preparing aside from the sheen of Luna's gifted grace and a look of being extra alert. But she's ready!

Rhapsody has the Thorn bow in hand, and the quiver of arrows waiting to load it up. For now, just a basic arrow until it is needed. She steps carefully and quietly along the way with them all.

>> I have Nightshade talens. Should the fight-pack use those to sneak in and strike from the shadows while you steal things? << Irsa-wolf asks Mercy as she prepares.

AND nearly everyone looks sick as fuck like a T-1000! Living silver, thanks the Avengers Assemble talens! "Up to you, my dear!" Mercy tells Irsa, "I have no idea how this will play out, use them or keep them on hand at your discretion." Now, heading towards the college after getting suited up, the elemental camouflage does its job, beginning to sprout pure white flowers on the garou and kin in response to the Wyrm taint increasing around them. You don't even need to Sense Wyrm to feel it, even taste it, this is Hive level taint. Touching down on the asteroid, the ground cruches under foot, too loud in this graveyard-quiet place. Thick, sickly black-green vines of unknown origin have grown all around, netting statuary and columbs, snaking across path ways and up walls. Some viney tendrils are as thin as a twig, while others are as thick as a tree trunk. Iris does NOT have a map of this place, and looks towards Branton and Abril to get a sense of direction. "Where do they hide the knowledge around here?" she asks the two smart/secret orientated people.

Growing taller and larger, standing up on hind legs, this grey and white monster howls as it comes out and ready for action.

Branton has his enchanted silver shortsword in hand, armed and armored in ways that he doesn't bother with most days. Shaking his head he offers "Probably not going to be that sneaky, we're trying to draw attention away from you." Then he gestures "The tallest tower or the deepest dungeon. Or the Library. This place was built by a different branch of the same Tradition that originally built my Manor house. This here is what happens when they over extend and get caught out."

Protector-of-Hope shifts to her war form, not risking it as she scents the strong wyrm here too. >> Shadow fighting is good if we can. With this bow, I have a good distance to strike too. <<

Irsa eyes her shiny silver self and snorts agreement with Branton. >> Keep, they will see us easily. << She's crunched up the supplied silvery-awesomeness talen like a cookie and listens closely to Branton's description of the place. She shifts to her war-form but keeps low, padding around on all fours.

Bones snap and break, shifting and warping into a new form, as the creature before you becomes a figure out of nightmare.

Strikes-Twice considers and then nods in agreement with Branton. The kin-sorcerer's logic is sound after all. >> If... //when// we see someone, can learn more what they want keep hidden then. <<

"Library's probably between the tallest tower and the dungeon, so we'll start there and hope for the best. Worst case, we look for stairs." Mercy decides, and starts them towards a large set of double doors. Metal banded wood with hugeass pull rings, the doors are huge even for the crinos Garou. Definitely a lot of ego went into the construction of this place. She cant pull one open, and waves quietly for some help to gain entrance into whatever building this is. It's not a very quiet door, making alarmingly loud creaks and thunks as its opened. Inside is a bigass hall cloaked in darkness and choked with vine growth and tickling dust. There's lots of doors, lots of desks and chairs, a little administration zone, not too unlike walking in the 'front doors' of an actual college. This also includes a directory, which is just great. Granted, it's written in some old language, but still. It exists! There's sounds in answer to our own from deeper within the overrun college, distant chittering muffled by walls and doors, thumps and scuttles. We're definitely not alone in here!

Hammer-Tooth's ears cock forward at the sounds. While the brainy language-type folks check out the directory, she'll link up with Boots to cover the group in case of ambush.

FAFO falls into a position with Hammer-Tooth - readying the axe first. Got to go with the urban feel, after all! The sword is at his belt, in case things get exceptionally dire. It's too pretty to pick up elsewise. <<Good defensive spot?>> He chuffs, looking about.

Branton will head over to check the directory, to see if its in one of the languages he learned from the OoH library he inherited with the Manor (Classical Greek and Latin).

Strikes-Twice certainly can't speak dead languages. Her grasp on English can be questionable at times after all! But that doesn't mean she won't do her due diligence of looking at the directory and the vines and dust about the hall. Sniffing. Peeking. Sensing?

Old Latin indeed! Not something Iris speaks, but Branton's got a handle on that. Easy enough to find out where the library is, and it's actually quite close. Just go through these doors, down this hall, hang a left, and there you are! Getting there isn't too difficult, it's mostly just an excercise in not making a bunch of noise, avoiding the vines or bits of broken masonry, shattered glass, stuff like that. The path there shows scorch marks on the walls, the occasional half dusted pile of bones, there's torn portraits on the walls, shattered display cases that have been looted, ripped tapestries and rugs. The place probably had a medieval beauty to it back in the day, but now it's just spooky. Thank goodness for sunlight through windows or we'd be so boned. We're creeping, and we're creeping, and then Boots steps on a black vine lost in shadows and there's a squelching, popping sound as the diseased thing bursts under his foot. It's not that it's loud, it's that it wakes the vine up. You can tell this has happened because a large eye the size of a soup bowl opens up on one of the vines and points its gross self right at Boots.

Hammer-Tooth growls under her breath as the Spirit rouses. ~ Sleep ~ she rasps out, invoking a Gift to command the Spirit's obedience. Her clawed hands twitch, juuust in case the command fails.

Strikes-twice almost becomes lost in shadows herself. Not physically, but mentally. She's looking the other way and nearly misses Boot's stepping on of the vine and the waking up of the eyeball before she shakes herself to. >> A god's staff not stashed away. Clutched deep. Will have to pry out of hand. <<

FAFO looks ready to start a ruckus - hand clutching up on the axe. But then Hammer-Tooth barks out the command, and he pauses a breath. Theurge magic, do your thing!

Branton was about to give directions from what he read in the old book, decyphering as quick as he can but he pauses when the noise happens. Once things are calmed he'll share the directions he found.

The eye snaps around to glare at Irsa, but then goes drowsy, its lid growing heavy until it slips closed again. The vine does nothing now, of course, but there are still sounds elsewhere, growing in number but still... small, distant. For now. Mercy nervously digs in her purse and jams a wad of herbs in her mouth, trying to choke them down between sips of water as they reach the library. "We have... probably less than ten minutes before shit gets real." The actual library itself, as in current view: It's so huge! Stories tall, PACKED with books, there's a lot that have toppled out of knocked over book cases, and some are just piles of ash and burnt paper now, but even counting the destruction, there's SO MUCH BOOKS! And scrolls, and tablets of clay and all sorts of things. Tons of writing desks, all your basic library stuff. Signs tell what section is what, that sort of thing. It's all in disarray, sadly. There's stair cases to get to higher levels with more books, some balconies with ruined tools for astronomy, a blasted ground floor patio, just lots and lots of room for nerding and multiple doorways leading into the college itself. Too many doors for a 6 person crew to deal with AND also ransack the place. Mercy says, "Team Badass, secure the library as best you can. Team Secret Stealers, let's steal some shit. Branton, get that teleportation circle ready for us to pile shit on!"

Protector-of-Hope hears the squelching, and then looks to see what it is. Irsa having it in hand, she's glad to see the spirit retreat to sleep. Approaching the library then, her eyes grow. So much to learn! But their are on watch for anyone that can catch them.

Hammer-Tooth sweeps her head around the library, checking out the levels and all the exits. There's too many for just a couple peeps to cover, but she has a small ace up here sleeve: Spirit Ward. With that centered on her, and moving with her, it'll wreck any spirits that enter. She'll keep that Gift ready to spring the instant the Enemy gets curious in here. >> I will stand where the most doors are. The Banes will not like it,< she growls softly to the others. She readys her Brickstorm fetish, cus it might just be needed.

Branton gets out the prepared chalks and powders and nods "The circle will be obvious on the floor of the hallway just outside the library door. You can step inside it just don't touch what I've drawn."

FAFO moves over to guard Irsa, and take up a position at her back. No one is going to get around her, or flank her. He smacks the axe against the shield, as if to taunt their enemies to him.

Protector-of-Hope is watching, but she cannot resist the knowledge up here. She's going to climb a rolly ladder and try to get some cool books down to the others! Up here, she still has her bow in hand, so she'll watch for anything.

Abril might not be able to read most of the books in here, but that's a problem for others to sort out later. She knows where she'd put the more important books and that's out of immediate reach of the busiest areas.... And so up a set of stairs the hispo lopes. Hands would be nice, but nah. She's got this as she grabs a thick-ass-tome in her teeth and with a twist of her head and shoulders, sends it plummeting down towards the others on ground level.

Branton is remaining vigilant as he chalks a spell circle outside the library entrance, keeping watch from that direction while he secures the cargo extraction "Remember, this isn't for us to get out. Just cargo."

Mercy burps in an unladylike fashion and mutters, "Tastes like shrimp.... Oh wow shrimp sounds *so* good right now!" Not that she needs any scrimps, she's looking a little plump around the middle right now. She does NOT speak or read any of these languages, but with a bit of concentration, she starts looking at signs and saying, "Oh we definitely want stuff off this shelf! And THAT shelf!" She makes sure people have loot bags to put stuff in. They have big $ signs on them, because it's funny to her that way. As the looting begins and wards are set and so on, the general quiet of the library is interrupted by a Knock. Knock. Knock. It comes from one of the doors that leads deeper into the college, and after the final knock is a sound like heavy blades running down the wood of the door and a thoroughly unhinged, shakey giggling sound. "Trick or treeeeeeeat, hehehehehehehe..." This greeting is followed by powerful thuds and bangs at a few other doors, one of which immediately cracks and begins to splinter. Clawed hands reach through to scrabble and lash at whatever paltry locks are trying to keep them out. Further up in the library is the sound of smashing glass as windows are blown inwards.

Hammer-Tooth snorts sharply and steels herself to resist a lot of nasty, painful wounds. She darts halfway up the staircase, setting herself up to unleash a Brickstorm (tm) on the Enemy. >> Smell my FEET! << she howls at the weird trick-or-treater thing.

Protector-of-Hope is pulling all the books that seem interesting as fast as she can - while trying not to hit anyone. It absolutely is looting here at its best! She keeps turning her head around to see if anyone is coming and the knocking and then sinister voice has her stop and pull her bow back with an arrow nocked and ready.

Branton keeps scribing the spell circle and laughs at the enemies knocking "Got a warrant you rancid puss dripping asshair?"

<< Trick. Definitely Trick. >> Strikes-Twice isn't gonna believe in any treats in weird creepy wyrm-mage strongholds! But she abandons her book tossing and the hispo-formed shadow-lord lopes on down the stairs, teeth ready.

Growling and choking up his grip on his axe, FAFO stands near the bottom of the stairs - ready to block the path for any would-be enemies. <<Come and get some fun!>> He growls out, banging his axe against his shield.

Iris doesn't even bother to look at the books that she's shoving into her loot sack, just trying to get as much in as fast as possible. She'll sort it out later, damn it! Normally she'd be more mindful of book care, but fuck that for right now! She doesn't even carry the bag to the circle, she just straight up throws it. It lands with a thud, and possibly there's a few broken book spines as a result. Alas! The extra plump hippy ssemi-waddles her way along book shelves, using one arm to just sweep them into a new bag. Doors all around begin bashing open, whanging off the wall hard enough to crack, lean funny on their hinges, or just straight fall to the ground with a crash. Horrifying monsters made of teeth, tentacles, spikes and claws, they begin rushing into the library while bellowing their war cries. They absolutely have the Gaians out numbered, but the bulk of this fell army is made up of smaller monsters. Little horror banes that could do some damage, but they're kind of made of corrupted tissue paper, so to speak. They dive at basically everybody!

Strikes-twice didn't get that name for nothing! As the tentacle monsters attack, so too does the young shadow lord being ruthlessly efficient with those wicked sharp claws as she slips and ducks through the writhing mass of banes.

Claws dig into the floor - FAFO is making a stand! Deflecting scores of hits with his manhole-cover shield, the Ahroun weathers the storm with no issue. Even those few that make it around the shield, glance off his sturdy frame. Growling with fury, he swings his axe in a horizontal slash - cleaving through tentacles, teeth, limbs - anything opposing him. Seven fall to the Dead End.

Bricks zip across the room like a storm of angry wasps, smashing into the attackers. It's messy, it's ugly, and Hammer-Tooth is winding up for another round.

Branton stays laser focused on finishing the spell as the battle begins to rage around him. Then suddenly there's a flash of light and a grunt as one of the monsters claws at Branton. His shirt takes some damage but the glimmer of armor beneath does not. He holds up a finger to the beast for it to wait and yells to his allies "Circles hot! Start sending." then back to the beast "Where were we? Oh yes." /sching/ and Tranquility is drawn and white glimmers of lightning dance across Branton's skin and he becomes a blur of mayhem.

Protector-of-Hope was ready for this, and when the targets enter, she aims and lets fly her arrow at Smite! Her aim is true and just hits enough in an appendage, which does at least some damage. It's a warning shot, really. She is determined to get it better and take it out the next time.

They come in a steady stream, little things leaping and aiming to bite, claw, or stab with bladed tales or tentacles or whatever other gross shit they've managed to grow on them. Those hit by arrows are light enough to be flung away and pinned to walls, and book cases, their bodies slowly disolving away back into the cycle. Others are bashed by bits of brick and hurled out of windows, smashed into desks and flung across the room. Slashed banes land in pieces and parts, black goo spraying across the floor, downed books, and tripping hazard vines. Screams and roars fill the air, the doorways choked with more of the never ending little fuckers. Laughing howls can be heard as Spirals join the frey from elsewhere, seen loping on all fours down hallways towards the library in their war forms. Young ones out to get some easy glory, of course. Iris drags bags of books towards the circle, a few of the little bastards jumping on her but doing not much, ending up just sorta flung off her once she drops the books off. "Oh shit. Abril! ABRIL!" she calls with a touch of panic in her voice, her waddle back to the books stalled when she falls down to her knees with her hands on her really really fat stomach. "Shield me! OW FUCK, I cant-!" Because she's going into labor and therefore can not fight like at all. What a way for Branton to find out he's gonna be a dad!

Strikes-Twice falls back as Mercy calls for her. Sure, she might not have any idea what's really going on but there's a Garou on the floor and opportunitistic Spirals apparently moving in. She places herself squarely as a shield and roughly shoulder checks the knees of the first couple to reach the Shadow Lord... a shoulder check which rapidly turns into an opportunistic swipe at fallen opponents hamstring's as they try to scurry away.

Hammer-Tooth has had enough of the Enemy's shit. A booming howl tears from her throat as more bricks smash into the enemy, but one of the larger foes closes the distance and latches onto her leg. >> Let GO! << she thunders. trying to stomp on the bane's head.

Protector-of-Hope is ready this time, pulling out the best arrows, and much like something in a movie, she loads up and THE ARROW OF DEATH goes flying from the Thorn Bow she borrowed, and it whisks around the Smites and boom, boom, BOOM BOOM XHBOOM! they go falling down as she takes out a whole gaggle of them! The blood and goo makes a sickening sound of DEATH as it they fall down like dominos from the best arrows EVER.

More attacks ring off of FAFO's shield and fur, the Gnawer standing fast. The tempo has increased, the enemies swarming and piling on more. His axe strike is more focused, splitting one foe in half. <<MORE! SEND MORE!>> Cocky sunuvabitch.

Branton is zipping back and forth across the battlefield like a pinball made of fire, lightning, and an absolutely world shattering capacity for violence. Then actual Spirals start showing up and his mate goes down and Branton glances to Iris briefly before raising his sword into the air and he calls out "Muteki-no-toki I call upon your debt to me." And a shimmering corona of a spirit appears around branton's limbs, an ancestor spirit of a female garou with shadowlord markings, then they both glare out of Branton's eyes and he rises into the air in an aura of flames "The Wyrm Rises." Pointing with Tranquility at the large warleader of the Spirals "The Wyrm Falls." and for a moment all becomes LIGHT. And the in a blur the battle is joined as the crazy motherfucker of an angry kinfolk CRASHES into their formation. Branton buffs his nails.

Iris has had several kids, this isn't exactly old hat or anything, but the prior practice on top of her ritual know how makes the actual delivery pretty easy. It is not a pink little behbeh that comes out from between her legs though, she's only had this thing cooking since she scarfed down those herbs when we first got here. No, it's a dude. Like a full grown dude just squeezes out of her coin purse. And the dude is on fucking *fire*, fully armored, and armed with a sword in either hand. (He gets that... from his dad's side...?) Iris's fire spawn scorches the floor while it crawls its way out of her, and yeah it's as weird as it sounds. The crackle of its roaring fire mingles with her labor pain screams and the snarles and yelps of her Shadow Lord meat-shield's fight. The newly birthed Fire Warrior begins getting up to its feet while its "mom" takes a minute to regret all of her life choices and maybe struggle her way upright a little bit.

Banes continue to fall easily, the BSDs maybe not so much, but now that they're actually *here*, and know their opponents are made of living silver, they're *also* regretting their life choices. You're not trapped in here with them, they're trapped in here with you, thanks to the doors being flooded with bad guys. Every swipe at the Gaians brings pain and melted claws or burned muzzles, but they are definitely insane enough to keep trying! A final wave of Even Bigger Dudes begins smashing their way down the halls towards the library while books are looted and bad guys are smited. Leading this last charge is a single man in awesome wizards robes, with a gloriously gleaming caduceus, a long silvery staff wrapped with a serpent. The level boss, naturally.

Strikes-Twice holds her ground! Sure, that one Dancer gets a bit of a lick in as she spins to bite his buddy, but the talen provided armor really takes the brunt of the slash. And he's repaid for his effort by getting a nice sharp BITE of hispo-teeth in return.

Protector-of-Hope has taken out a bunch of them, but there are more coming! So she reloads and hits two more of them - taking aim this time for the head and BaM! Right into the eye! One! Two! That's how you do it! Attrition, they are taking them out!

Hammer-Tooth switches to claws and launches herself at the Black Spiral Dancers serving as the Nephandi's escort. The Wyrm-Mage is the biggest danger here, and it's imperative that the escort is tied up so they can't shield his flanks. >> Take him out! << she snarls, as one of the escorts tears a small hunk of flesh from her side.

FAFO's axe digs into the side of a Dancer, likely the creature didn't bother blocking too hard. It's a street-sign for Pete's sake! Of course, with the talen in affect, it's silver - and sizzles it's way into the Dancer'

FAFO's axe digs into the side of a Dancer, likely the creature didn't bother blocking too hard. It's a street-sign for Pete's sake! Of course, with the talen in affect, it's silver - and sizzles it's way into the Dancer's ribcage. The pain steals a bit of the thunder from the Dancer's return blow, though he does draw blood from FAFO.

Branton would be covered in blood and viscera if he wasn't already covered in fire. Rising up out of the pile of foes and parts of foes he points at the Wizard "You have betrayed your covenant with the Thrice Great and his protection is withdrawn. You have turned from a willworker's true responsibilities and by the Mother of Spells stand Judged. And before the agents of the Beloved of Helios, The Lord of Mists, and Hades...ART THOU DAMNED." And a mandala of light and fire rotates in the air around Branton before slamming towards the wizard and Branton shouts to his friends "NOW!"

Iris gets herself up, and once she's shaken her head clear, she and her fire warrior set about helping fight through the hoard. But like in the background, cause she don't need more renown. Big fuckoff monsters from nightmares smash through the remains of the doors, scattering debris in their wake while charging the Gaians. A few end up murderized, though not all of them. The destruction is rampent, but like... Better an ashed and torn library than one in the hands of the Wyrm, surely. The fell mage in his fancy robes sneers at Branton and his procolimation, tilting his stolen staff towards the kin as the mandala rushes at him, but... Crap. Nothing's happening... Fuck it, he whips a bottle out of his robes at hucks it! It's not a death ray like he'd intended, which pisses him off, stupid sorcerer spells. But it is a mini lightning storm that's unleashed. A really pissed off lightning elemental set on zapping EVERYTHING! Fuck you, and you, and especially that guy, zap zap zap! Friend, foe, who gives a shit. Zap!

Strikes-Twice might not be the speediest of folks about, but she's solid especially on four legged form. Teh Shadow Lord lunges forward towards the Mage with Mercury's stolen Magic-Stick. And pretty much aims to hold the evil mage's heel for others to wail on him.

Hammer-Tooth is not about to disappoint her pack-for-the-day, no sir! She launches herself at the Nephandi with a furious snarl, lashing out with her claws and laying one of his arms open clear down to the bone. Blood and gore sprays everywhere. >> DIE, WRMSPAWN! <<

Branton is concentrating so hard he's vibrating as he leans his sorcery against the Wyrm Mage's magic, frantically disrupting as much as he can while his garou allies pile on the Enemy and tear into him. There's a moment of backlash and Branton recoils as his restraining spell shatters and in a moment of desperation Branton flings himself forward like a Missle and plants his silver sword in the guy's throat, taking his head messily off.

Everyone's a badass when they have their own evil mage, but once they're gone, you realize you're.... fuckin fucked, is what. There's screams of fear and rage throughout the library, and the flood of monsters turns the other direction, fleeing for their lives. Run! Run awaaaaaay! Even the remaining Big Nasties flee, knocking the smaller banes and monstrocities out of their way. The lightning elemental is about spent as well, zapping around in a rage before going home to wherever it'd been storm-napped from in the first place. And then it's... mostly quiet. Sounds of the fleeing, the last gasps of those on the ground, the dribble of blood and crackle of small fires (and a dude that's on fire). Holy shit, everyone lived. There's some decent wounds here and there, but... Still!

Hammer-Tooth harries the fleeing Enemy right out the library doors until they're out of sight, and limps back to join the others. >> Everyone all right? Who's wounded? <, she growls, using a Gift to close her own wounds.

Once the enemies dead or fled, Strikes-Twice takes the time to sniff at her own wound and give a little shrug towards Hammer-Tooth's injury. << Nothing a good nap won't cure. >>

Protector-of-Hope lowers her bow and puts away the last arrow she automatically drew. She is bleeding some, but she shrugs it mostly off for now. >> Just a bit of damage. I'll get it fixed shortly. << She slips the bow over her body now for safe keeping, and then wraps her arms around herself to begin to heal herself.

Branton takes a couple of breaths once the fight is over and slumps a bit, the ancestor spirit stepping out of him and saluting the group with her katana before dissipating back to wherever she came from (with a particular nod to Abril). For his part Branton ughs "I think I strained my everything and I'll be feeling that for a few days. A nap sounds wonderful." Hammer-Tooth checks Strikes-Twice and FAFO over and nods. >> Minor, we can treat those back on the ship. Do we have enough books? << she asks, looking around the wreck of the library.

Iris shrinks out of crinos and back down to her homid form, still silvery. "I'm super, thanks for asking!" she answers as for her wound status. "We don't have long before they find some kind of reinforcements, let's grab as much as we can and bail. Bags we dropped, whatever. Branton, you wanna rest with the loot while we gather up?" She's already picking up a fallen, half filled bag and cramming it full of whatever. The Fire Warrior sets about a patrol nearby, lighting the floor on fire for a second or two with each step.

Branton nods at Iris and heads over to Oversee the freight moving spell circle and he waves over at the body of the Nephandus "Someone grab the thing. We should probably carry it out by hand, divine artifacts can be a bit finicky about moving them with spells."

Hammer-Tooth bounds up the staircase and flings books down into the circle. Ancestral scribes from the Library of Alexandria are probably weeping as they watch this channel on Umbral TV, but now's not the time for tears! Smash and grab, just the way Rat likes it.

Strikes-Twice is a somebody. And while teeth probably aren't the //best// for grabbing divine artifacts, she does take a reasonable amount of care before she gentle bites the magic-staff and carries it over towards Mercy.

Protector-of-Hope will find some bags besides her own to grab all the books she can that she tossed down, looking for anything else of value. >> I'll grab it any artifact I can. << She's on the look out and it may not be anything as cool as the magic-staff, but she'll get what she can.

Fuck it, everything's getting tossed. What looks like a Ming dynasty vase sails over the railing. Curator spirits from the British Museum are joining in on the wailing. Hammer-Tooth bounds downstairs, her arms loaded with books.

Iris drags bags! She's careful to hoist them over the bagic scribbles and not through them though. Magic 101: Don't cock up the lines and circles! "Ah ha! Thank you, Strikes Twice!" she says, and takes the staff. While some last minute stuff is chucked in, she takes a minute to reassure the object that we're all friends, taking it home where it belongs, don't curse us or anything please. Between what they gathered before shit hit the fan, and what they add after things calmed down, it's a substantial little loot pile! Books, teaching aids, random scrolls and tablets, no idea what any of it is but we'll figure that out later! For now, "Let's get back to the boat!" And about time too, as some rumbling starts happening. That cant be good! "All aboard the magic circle bus!" she calls, so everyone can port out to safety.

Hammer-Tooth drops the books in the circle and nabs the Nephandi's head. It's a nice trophy for Branton and serious bragging rights for the group, no way that's being left behind. >> All aboaaaard!! << she chuffs, wiping her gory claws on her fur.

Protector-of-Hope does not have to be told twice. She keeps her Crinos form on the way out for the extra strength to haul books and tablets and all that loot to the boat! >> Right behind you! << She's moving with some speed and there she'll be - just as she grabs the cloak from the nephandi as well. Because why not? Might be able to use it for something.

And through whatever crazy zooping mojo Branton has concocted, we all end up back at the ship amidst some surprised spirit crew. "Nice!!! Let's get this bullshit cleansed, drop off a scepter, and brag to ALL THE SPIRITS about this! Who wants to lead?"

What does one do with a pile of stolen mage loot? Cleanse it first. No telling what that Nephandis did with it. But the process of cleansing does require things like water and fire. The fire proves a bit of a challenge as the lupus shifts into homid form and while she has a lighter she's twice befuddled by the thing before giving a sigh of defeat and wordless hold of sage and lighter over to one of the theurges about.

Protector-of-Hope will take up the mantle of cleansing, and she gets it going for the group. Her howls to scare the taint away, and dance with the lighter and sage is effective - especially encouraging the others to join in to make it all that much better including Abril of course.

Hammer-Tooth eyes those weird books while the pile of everything is Cleansed. Surely there must be a recipe for killer homemade pizza rolls in there. The Wyrm only takes the most prized lore away from the Nation. But no, this is probably highly magical, completely esoteric and wondrous knowledge instead, in languages she can't read. She lets out a sigh as she extends her offering of spiritual strength and watches the taint wash away.

Mercy gets her fiercest howl on to drive away the Wyrm, and gives poor Abril a pat on the back. A for effort, at least! The taint sizzles and smokes itself away into the aether. Mercy asks, "Anyone still injured? Anyone need a snack before we get back to Hermes's place? It's gonna take a few to get there, so you've got a little down time!"

After some time to get washed of dust and blood and goop, maybe go get a sammich or three from the kitchen, have a sit down and reflect on things, Mercu sticks her head in to the lounge to announce, "We're here!" She's got the mid-quest obstacle in hand, Mercury's missing staff that is.

Hammer-Tooth is way too tired to shift, she's staying in Crinos tyvm. At least she's not coated in gore now, and she's managed to scarf down a full platter of sammiches all by her lonesome. She pokes Boots in the side while Mercy announces their return. >> Nice axe work. You caught that one Dancer right in the head. Think he can regrow skulls? <<

Boots had grumbled about the claw, and the cleansing - but still, he's mostly unscathed. He was resting on his back for a moment, recatching his breath. As Hammer-Tooth calls him over, he sits up and moves closer. "I did. He got a claw in, but the axe did him in. Fucker." He snerks. "Crazy fight - everyone was top-notch, right?"

"I'm so glad we didn't all die!" Mercy gushes with a huge grin, "You guys were all so fantastic! Pew pew! Raaaar!" she mimes bow shots and claws and weapon swings while headed towards the row boat to take the easy, relaxed way down. "I'm super glad we had an Ahroun with us for this one. Hey, you should get a war spirit stuffed in that axe of yours or somethin, you're really good with it."

Rhapsody cleaned off, and then cleaned off in homid after shifting. She is all redressed and making sure her hair is all dried and rebraided. "That was something else. Certainly not to be forgotten. So we need to complete the job? I certainly have a lot of ideas from this on things to help us be more bad ass than we already were."

>> I hear that, his escort took a chunk out of my side,<< Hammer-Tooth growls at Boots. >> I can patch up that wound for you tomorrow, I'm seriously tapped on the spiritual front. << Her ears flick this way and that as she regards the Ahroun. >> We should. I have some ideas there, but a weapon is an extension of the wielder. If this mission doesn't earn you Fostern rank, Boots, I'll eat someone's hat. <<

Abril is still in homid form even after cleaning up. Maybe trying to spend some more time trying to get past the child-proofing on her pocket lighter more reliably.

Boots puffs up a bit. A nod to Mercy, then Hammer-Tooth. "Yeah, I want to make it somethin' special, in the long run. One I can pass down to family, you know?" He pats the axe, cleansed and cleaned from the gore of the fight. A look to Hammer-Tooth's side, and a nod. "Take care of that first. Mine will heal on its own." The man comments. "Plus, cool scar."

And the trip down is indeed nice and sedate, depending on how you feel about heights and dropping out of the sky on a magic rowboat. The gang is able to land right in the trade town, they done passed the challenge earlier, so now they get a fast travel point. "Have you had the rite of wounding yet, Boot or Abril? I for serious can not remember, I have the worst memory."

Hammer-Tooth turns so Boots can better look at her side. Her fur hasn't grown back over the injury site, but it looks like the wound is closed. >> Already done. I'm just tired more than anything. But coffee and sleep and meditation works wonders.<< She's checking out the vendors as they walk, keeping an eye out for cool bargains.

"Been wounded before, but not rited..." Abril answers after a consideration. And then a poke at her side. "Not very deep wound." Though deep enough it still hasn't regenerated away yet anyways.

Rhapsody is happy to be walking around here, and when Abril speaks of not having had the Rite, she looks to the others and grins, "Then this is the perfect time to have it."

Boots shakes his head at the mention of the Rite. "Nope. Not yet. Got scars, but nothing from like... a real fight?" He shrugs. A nod to the others as they look voer the vendors. Seems he's not too interested, or doesn't understand the wares. He certainly isn't reading anything.

Once there's some solid ground under their feet again, Mercy hands off the staff to Irsa, saying, "Be right back, don't go anywhere." She takes some quick breaths and activates a couple gifts with the very last of her mojo before stepping across the gauntlet and onto the actual surface of Mercury. She scoops up a bit of burning dirt in her hands, and then highjacks it back across the gauntlet and into the Umbra again. "Holy shit, hot out there. You may have been in battle before, but I'll wager that's probably your first seige. I mean we just basically robbed a Wyrm hive, killed a mage and killed a bazillion things. This is one of those stories that should be told again and again, cause it was *that* cool! And in case *any*one ever doubts you, you'll have the ash and earth of Mercury itself embedded in your scars as proof of your glorious deeds." And to anyone with a wound that wants this, step forth and get that shit ground into your wound!

Boots looks at Hammer-Tooth's scars, then nods. He gets to his feet and heads over to where Mercy's Messenger is. He offers over his arm, where the wound is. "Let's do this." He says, bracing himself for the pain of debris in his open wound. Hammer-Tooth also returns to homid, cus this place is totally way too hot. Bones snap and break, shrinking and shaping into a new form. The creature before you becomes a dark-skinned, scarred woman. Abril raises up her shirt and down the bandage. There's a bit of a wince as the hot-hot mercury dirt gets blended in with the wound left by Dancer scars. But in the end, it's a proud grin on the Shadow Lord's face.

Down side, this super hurts, Boots and Abril! Up side, it kinda cauterizes things and is probably totally sterile! "A little reminder of that day you helped the Gnawer's celestial patrol out with a problem." she tells them with a grin. Once the matter of war scars has been handled, she dusts her hands off and reclaims the staff, "Alright, let's finish this up and take a REAL break before next stop! Mercury, or Hermes, or Speed Wolf, or whatever particular face you see him as, can be found in amidst the never ending, harmoniously circular trade happening in his stronghold. Zipping around on his paws or maybe doing some sick stunts on his messenger bike or his winged sandals, depending on the perspective. Mercy waves and hollers a "HELLOOOOO! Look! We all returned!" Except Branton, who is sleeping like *crazy* right now on the boat.

Rhapsody recalls her own, "It will hurt, but you are both tough and it will soon become a fantastic memory." She watches them squirm a bit before they meet Mercury. She's gobsmacked, but does not show that too much outwardly. It's just really cool.

Boots hisses in pain, but holds fast. He bites at his lip, watching as the hot ash is pushed into the car - marking him for Glory. Once complete, he's more than happy to continue on with the group. Spotting the greeting to Mercury, he waves as well. "Sup?"

"And only ate a few books," Abril adds on with a remarkably dead pan face as Mercy hollers about their return, even as she's smoothing her shirt back down over her wound.

"We got a lotta cool stuff," Irsa remarks to Mercury. "Books for days, some dude's head, and something totally wild." She adds to Abril's list, "We mighta wrecked some things, yeah."

Mercury stops his shenanigans to put his feet/paws on the ground and look at the others with an expecting grin, his brows up with interest. Surely this return brings good news, yes? The Gnawers get a chin up nod of recognition as well, and a returned, "Sup?" He snorts a laugh at the mention of eating books and adds, "I'm not sure they meant 'consuming knowledge' literally, but what do I know, I never went to college. What about my caduceus?" he asks while making some meaningful grabby hands motions. Iris produces the staff in question! Mercury takes that staff, checking it VERY closely and sort of re-bonding with the thing. "By the power of Greyskull..." he breathes, and then thrusts the staff into the air, "I HAVE THE POWER!" And he gets the whole echo voice thing and some flashing lights. No lightning though, that's not in his power set. Pop culture is, though, he's probably the only celestine that would be in to that. Anyhoo, dude looks super happy with its return.

Rhapsody nods, "It was quite a trip. Glad we could return this for you." Her eyes grow huge when he quotes He-Man! You just never know with celestines what they will be like!

If Trey was here he could totally stand in for Battle Cat, but no! No, the Qualmi's off visiting his teacher, and probably looking for a student of his own. Irsa beams as the spirit holds the staff aloof. "You look totally sick with that thing. Where you off to, now that you got it back?" she asks Mercury.

Boots nods, not really the one to do the talking. There's a slight smirk as Mercury does his best Grayskull shout, the young man clearly approving. "Fuckin' good story, right?" He says, looking to the others.

"You are what you eat," Abril says very seriously with aa nod. And then watches as Mercury gets his groove back. or at least his staff. And another approving nod and smile of pride.

"Oh, just around Helios, same old same old." Mercury answers, dropping the He-Man act and shrugging, "And there's always so many errands to do." Mercy asks about the rock, what this whole deal was for in the first place. "Oh, right!" He does his best snooty impression while doing a clap-clap. Artisinal trade spirits push a little cart over, its contents covered in a nice cloth. "Viola!" The cloth is whipped away to reveal a perfect replica of Mercury carved from stone, craters and flames and all. Like super perfect! Mercury's craters aren't named after artists for nothing, after all. Mercy also looks pretty happy, the deal is completed and everyone's happy! Mercury adds, "Thanks a lot, I was really missing this, but just never had time to go get it. Stick around if you want, I give you my leave to learn my favored gifts of speed and mind, if you like!"

"I'd definitely love t' take ya up on that," Irsa remarks. "And hey, if you don't mind visitors, I can drag some of my art designs up here t' trade sometime. Now that I know th' route here it'll be easier."

Rhapsody looks eager, "I'd love to learn more here. It is a fascinating place, the architecture alone I could study for weeks."

Boots nods. "I heard you can teach folks to be fast, right?" I mean, it's an obvious question for most - but Boots is still not quite learned. About mythology or spirits.

"Bring your A game or they'll talk your pants off. Or bury you in too much pants." Mercury warns of future trade to Irsa, though it's with a welcoming grin and a nod, approving of the request. He makes the rounds through the Garound, laying a hand on people that seek to learn and making some really direct eye contact that conveys the secrets of the gods. It's gonna take a hot minute for those secrets to settle in your brain meats and unfold, but they're there, bought with hard fought experience. "A'ight, I gotta get, got stuff to do and places to be, lateuh!" And VROOM! he's just gone in aplume of dust as he zipps at like light speed or somethin and leaves the pack to do whatever they want. Mercy handles wheeling her rock back to the row boat to load it up.

Irsa snickers as the Celestine darts off. "I was gonna say that I ain't got no hot pants, but he's way too fast," she quips. She follows Mercy and crew back to the ship, slowing along the way to check out deals and make a quick bargain or two. "Helios is next, yeah?" she asks her mentor.

Boots's mind is reeling with the information that was imparted. He'll be fast when the dust settles! "So, Helios? What's with that one?" He wonders, looking to Irsa, then Mercy.

Rhapsody laughs! She likes this guy! "Helios! Yes! I've been preparing talens for that trip. They should be all ready to go when we are rested up and ready."

"We kinda have our pick there," Mercy answers Irsa, but tells the group as a whole, "Vulcan or the Sun next? The Sun's challenge is pretty straight forward, we just have to survive three good smacks from his Incarna. We do that and we can visit and say hi. I'll ask for my bit of the sun, you guys can maybe learn some gifts, we'll sight see, then hit the next one. Vulcan's a little more... Personal. It's not really dangerous, but it's probably gonna be poking at our fears. As long as we can keep our wits and spines, we're good. Which would you guys like to visit next? We're set on Helios next?" She's just making certain, gotta double check and all that!

Irsa thinks the destinations over. "Helios is right around th' corner. If we hit him up next, we got time to restock and heal before tacklin' Vulcan's challenge. But I ain't gonna lie, I'm tapped out on a lotta juice right now. Are we going now, or in a few days or what?"

"Do people visit Ruatama?" Abril asks as other celestial locations are being brought up.

Rhapsody nods, "Helios next. We'll be ready for it. Just need a few days..week tops. Got to refill our energies because that is going to be a tough one - even with the talens I have prepared."

"Helios it is! Let's keep the flow and go now, do it like a cruise." Mercy says, "Hit a few stops and then head back. After the college, it's all down hill from here. I've got a hearthstone on the ship you guys can meditate at to regain your spirit, and you got comfy rooms, so why not. We've got a little time, the sun looks closer than it is cause it's so big." She nods to Abril, "Yeah, that one's still on my list, you should come with when I go out to get the outter gods. And, in case I never explained this to the new kids, I'm building an orrery, it's a spinny thingie that plots planet and realm math, so I gotta get pieces for it from the places."

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We fade out on the crew having a grand time and enjoying their victory! ~Fin~

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